Phantasm III: Lord of the Dead - The horror added the comedy

I know there's a section of fans of the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' horror franchise who far preferred when its villain, Freddy, was pure evil and didn't do all the 'one-liners.' I guess they're into the 'pure' horror, rather than the genre semi-lampooning itself by adding a few bits of self-knowing parody.  In 'Phantasm' I and II, it's fair to say that they were both 'pure' horror (with only a very minor dose of tongue-in-cheek humour, possibly more in the second installment.  However, 'Part III' really does amp up the black comedy, almost to 'Evil Dead' levels.

Personally, I actually enjoyed the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' series when it was horror and horror comedy, just like I enjoy both types of 'Phantasm' film. 'Part III' continues the tale of the sinister 'tall man' and his minions who are stealing corpses from our world and taking them into their own dimension.  Luckily, we have an overweight, balding ex ice cream vendor (played perfectly by Reggie Bannister) to save us - along with his new 'team.'

If you like your heroes slightly bumbling and, er, 'grabby (when it comes to women!) then Reggie is a delight to watch in this age of 'clean cut' leading men.  Now he's out to rescue the boy the tall man seems to be constantly after and he's helped by a child and a ninja-like woman - who Reggie is constantly coming on to!

Yeah, there's not much that's horrific in 'Part III,' but there is a lot here that's fun.  The tall man is as menacing as ever, but this film is all about entertainment over scares.  The 'horror' is played more for laughs and is completely over the top.  The flying balls are back and because this film is now made in an age where computer effects were beginning to take off, the special effects are well done overall.

If you like 'straight' horror, just watch the first two films, but if you don't mind the series start admitting that it's getting kind of silly and generally running with it, then this one is certainly a fun little addition to the franchise.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that